Through the dense forest, a distant echo of a forgotten howl. Kairos stood at the edge of the cliff, his gaze fixed on the horizon where the moon used to rise. A thick layer of clouds obscured the night sky, as if the heavens themselves had conspired to hide the truth from him. The moon was gone or perhaps it had never been. Kairos didn't know anymore.
He had forgotten so much. Faces, names, the sound of his own heartbeat. But the moon... it was different. He could almost taste the memory on his tongue, a distant sweetness, something he once relied on, something that once defined him. But no matter how hard he tried, the memory slipped away like sand through his fingers.
His fingers clenched the stone railing, cold beneath his touch. He wasn't sure when it all started the forgetting. It had been gradual at first, the way the seasons changed unnoticed until they had already passed. But now, it was all-consuming. Each day felt like waking from a long, dark sleep, and yet no matter how awake he was, the fog of amnesia remained. The wolf he once was the creature that prowled beneath the light of the full moon, wild and free seemed like a shadow in his mind, faint and intangible.
"Are you here to remind me?" Kairos whispered to the wind, though he knew the answer. The wind would never speak back. The forest around him stood silent, unmoving, as if the world had forgotten its own heartbeat. His pulse quickened, a flicker of something ancient stirring deep within him, but it faded before he could grasp it.
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to remember," he muttered, his voice a mixture of frustration and sorrow. The only thing that felt real anymore was the ache in his chest. An emptiness. The kind of emptiness that gnawed at his insides, that told him there was something he had lost a piece of himself that had been stolen away.
The sound of footsteps behind him broke his reverie, and he turned, startled. He hadn't heard anyone approach, but there she was Elara.
Elara had been with him for as long as he could remember, though there was a time when he had wondered whether she was real. Sometimes, she felt like a figment of his memory, an echo of something too far back to reach. But then she would show up, standing there in the light of dawn or the shadows of dusk, always with that quiet intensity in her eyes. She was a puzzle that Kairos could never quite solve, and yet, he felt an unshakable pull toward her. She was tethered to his past in a way he couldn't explain.
"I thought I heard you out here," she said, her voice soft like the rustling of leaves. "What are you looking for, Kairos?"
He met her gaze, her brown eyes holding something that resembled both concern and something deeper. He couldn't tell if it was pity or compassion or something darker, like fear.
"Just… thinking," Kairos said, trying to sound indifferent, but he could feel the tremor in his words. He had never been good at hiding his feelings from her. She always seemed to know when something was wrong.
"About the moon?" Elara asked, her voice gentle.
He didn't answer right away, instead watching the clouds shift in the sky. They moved in patterns that seemed familiar, like a forgotten dream, but he couldn't bring himself to remember. The more he thought about it, the more it felt like he was chasing something just out of reach.
"I don't know what it means anymore," he admitted. "I keep thinking that if I stand here long enough, if I wait... maybe the moon will come back. Maybe it will bring everything back with it."
Elara stepped closer, her presence a steady anchor in the storm of his mind. She placed a hand on his arm, the warmth of her touch a small comfort in the cold night air. "The moon hasn't forgotten you, Kairos. You've forgotten the moon. And with it, you've forgotten yourself."
Her words were like a blow to the chest, sharp and unsettling. He turned to face her fully, searching her face for answers. She had always known him in ways he couldn't understand, always seemed to see beyond the surface. But this this was different.
"I don't remember," he whispered. "I don't remember what it felt like to run beneath its light, to feel the shift in my body, the pull in my blood... I don't remember how to be what I was."
Elara's gaze softened. She took a step back, looking at him as though she was seeing something that he couldn't. "You're not the same person you were, Kairos. That's true. But you're still you. And you can still find your way back."
"But how?" he asked, frustration creeping into his voice. "How do I find what's been lost when I don't even know where to start?"
Her eyes lingered on him for a long moment before she spoke again, her words heavy with meaning. "You start by remembering the first step. The first truth. You won't find it in the moon, not this time. You'll find it in yourself."
The words resonated deep within him, though they made little sense. Kairos stared at her, confused and conflicted. Elara had always been the one who believed in him, even when he had no faith left in himself. But what was he supposed to do when all the pieces of his life were scattered, and the path forward was as foggy as the night sky?
The silence stretched between them, thick and pregnant with something unsaid. Finally, Elara spoke again, breaking the stillness.
"I'm not going to leave you, Kairos. I can't. I've been waiting for you to remember. And when you do, I'll be here. But you have to be willing to look, even if the truth you find isn't what you expect."
Kairos felt the weight of her words settle in his chest. He didn't know if he was ready for whatever truth lay ahead. But one thing was certain: he couldn't keep running from it. Not anymore.
He nodded slowly, his gaze drifting back to the horizon. The moon might not be visible tonight, but that didn't mean it was gone forever. Somewhere, deep within him, it still called to him. And with Elara by his side, maybe just maybe he could find his way back to it.